Feb. 24 (UPI) — Leaders of the Group of Seven nations will gather with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a special virtual meeting to mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Friday.
The meeting will be the first summit that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will lead as the G7 chair for 2023.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said in a press conference that Japan will “maintain severe sanctions against Russia and continue supporting Ukraine while working closely with the international community, including the G7.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday confirmed that President Joe Biden would attend the virtual G7 meeting that will focus on how to “continue supporting Ukraine and continue to increase pressure on Putin and all those who enable his aggression.”
“One year ago, this group came together just mere hours after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine to impose unprecedented costs on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his cronies,” Jean- Pierre said. “We’ve worked together to provide Ukraine with security, economic and budget, humanitarian and energy assistance it needs.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will urge the world leaders Friday to give Ukraine’s military a “decisive advantage” against invading Russian forces by providing longer-range weapons.
Sunak will tell leaders that the west needed to break the current stalemate by helping Ukraine “degrade Russian forces beyond the front lines of the conflict.”
“More sophisticated capability will help protect critical civilian infrastructure and preserve the front line defenses,” he will say.
“For Ukraine to win this war — and to accelerate that day — they must gain a decisive advantage on the battlefield. That is what it will take to shift Putin’s mindset. This must be our priority now.
“Instead of an incremental approach, we need to move faster on artillery, armor, and air defense.”
“The coming weeks will be difficult for Ukraine, but they will also be difficult for Russia. They are overreaching once again. So now is the time to support Ukraine’s plan to re-arm, regroup, and push forward.”
The prime minister raised the possibility of supplying the longer-range weapons with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenksy during his visit to Britain earlier this month.
Sunak is also expected to reiterate his offer of British support to countries able to provide fighter jets to Ukraine to help in the immediate conflict.
Under the proposal countries with Soviet-made jets — such as MIGs that Ukraine’s pilots can put to immediate use — would send them to Ukraine as soon as possible with countries such as Britain supplying its advanced fighter aircraft to “backfill” the holes left in donor countries’ defenses.